Snowdrop Festival blooms around Shire

Two local locations will take part in one of Scotland’s most popular outdoor festivals, with one of them joining for the first time this year.

Blossoming across the country until March 12, the Scottish Snowdrop Festival features more than 50 properties showing off spectacular swathes of snowdrops carpeting their grounds.

Venues taking part in the festival around the Highlands include Bruckhills Croft at Rothienorman and – for the first time – Fyvie Castle (NTS).

At Bruckhills Croft, there is a collection of 320 named snowdrops arranged in small groups throughout the garden, which is taking part in the Festival from February 18 to March 12.

The annual event, now in its 11th year, aims to encourage locals and tourists alike to enjoy the wonders of Scotland’s gardens during the snowdrop flowering period and to highlight the diversity of the country’s array of snowdrop collections.

For the first time this year, the festival is being organised by garden tourism organisation Discover Scottish Gardens, and supported by VisitScotland.

Nearly half the participants are opening their gardens to raise money for national charity organisation Scotland’s Gardens.

For details of all the gardens and grounds taking part visit www.visitscotland.com/snowdrop.